I took my boat in to the shop to have a problem I had looked at. The problem was that the boat would go into forward, and idle just fine. But when you give it some gas it will start to skip/jump. Like it is not going all the way into gear. It does not do this in reverse.
So this week I took it to the shop and waited for the verdict. On wed. they call and say they tore down the gear case and found no problems with the lower unit. And today they looked at the throttle & shift linkage. Found that the problem was with the shift linkage.
My question is it common to go to the internal parts first or the external parts when evaluating these problems? Just seems to me that you would work from the outside in. Any help from some boat mechanics would be helpful. Thanks in advance.

a common problem is with the dog clutch, which I'm guessing, they were guessing, was the problem.
But you are correct,they should have been able to tell it was not internal pretty easy... a GOOD tech is not easy to find..

It all depends on the year and model of the outboard. The most common is the shift linkage. But say you have a 1956- 35hp. Then it would highly be unlikely it is the shifter. Most shops would start at the shift control box. But there again, A lot is how you explain the problem. If you give the wrong information or vague information, to the shop, they might have thought it was in the lower unit. and so, to save time, went straight there. I prefer to play 20 questions in my shop and a lot of time what the customer thinks is the problem is not the problem at all..........mike

The motor is a 1995 Mercury 200 hp EFI.

curious, if ya don't mind saying, how much is that "peace of mind" about the condition of your gearcase gonna set ya back?

I'd hate to think they opened 'er up on a hunch - I've did that sort of thing before (replaced perfectly good parts cause I jumped to conclusions) but then, I'm not doing it for a living. If you were to ask why they did it in that order (not in a confrontational way of course), wonder what the answer would be.........

Hey its not a complete waste - your l/u oil change is now done for another year. (my apologies for making fun of your misfortune)

well it is going to be a pretty penny. And the only reason is becasue I got stuck with 5 hours of labor to tear down a gear case and to put it back together to tell me there is nothing wrong with the lower unit.
And like you say, All I can do is explain to them what I am seeing and feeling when I am running the boat. To me it looks like they would have put it in the tank or lake and evaluated it. Then start with the exterior items and then move to the lower unit. I will let you guys know the final outcome after I pick the boat up this afternoon.

no it is not common, the linkage is the easiest to check and requires little or no tools, a good mech could spot a adjusment problem in a minute, they just hit you for the service, id make shure that they really tore it down look inside around prop shaft see if seals appear to be new and any sealer ariound the bolts in the carrier should look fresh if it doesnt they either didnt do it or they put the old seas back in which is a no no what mechanic was it

had mine looked at today- he pulled the guts out, and put some thrust washer in (had too much slack/play in shaft) in a hour..
5 hours labor seems like a lot of time to me..

had you recently had the water pump changed ,if so did you do it yourself or have it done , mercury uses a ratating cam, when the motor is in forward a spring inside the propshaft pushes the cutchdog forward, no pressure from this cam is applied when you go to neutral the cam pushes a pin forcing the dog back ,a detent in the cam holds it there, further pressure backwards on the shifter pushes the dog backwards engaging the reverse gear.a spline or two off when re-assembly throws it out of adjustment, ,i always re-adjust cable just to make sure everytime i change pump. as i said in neutral they should have been able to hear if the dog was properly adjusted , i would contest those charges as any mechanic worth his salt should have caught that first, as i said before unless they installed new seals and o ring and change grease [and id drain a little and see if it looked fresh]id doubt if they did anything but adjust , i could adjust it in ess than a minute

please excuse my typing in my haist i mean a rotating cam and a comma or two ommited may have changed my meaning,pressuse is only applied to the dog in neutral and reverse a spline off in the shift rod where it separates at lower unit and midsection would make all the difference something was either done or the end of the cable slipped a little to cause this